Wednesday, 6 May 2015

A Review of Hong Kong's Premium Lounge at Arrival Hall (Landside)

IntroductionThe idea of doing short reviews on Airport Lounges came about while doing my trip report on Scoot's 787-9 Dreamliner Part 2. Some information of the lounges can be quite useful like what do you expect when you are there, essential ones so that you know what to do and prepare your itinerary especially when your flight gets delay or other reasons. Hopefully you find this piece of information useful and I always look at ways at improving it, so feel free to leave a comment or give me a tweet (@JA815A). 1st Airport Lounge ReportAirport: Hong KongLounge: Premium Lounge at Arrival Hall (Landside) Location: Landside (Between Terminal 1 and 2) Operating hours: 24 hoursType of lounge: Air Travellers and Paid-to-use loungeThis lounge is located at the walkway between the terminal 1 and 2 and what's the good thing about it? Its open not only to the airline's frequent flyer or premium passengers, its also open to the public but you have to pay to use it.

There are 3 lounges, only this one located at the land side can pay, while the other two at the air side cannot. Make sense because those business and frequent flyers would not be too happy about the lounges being crowded.

Welcome to the lounge!

Stepping inside the lounge, you meet a staff at a counter.

If you are staying overnight, there are pros and cons.

Pros: High chance of an empty lounge.

Cons: Hot food is not available and very little choices of snacks.

The price (in HK$) is quite expensive. I recommend the lounge package if its not full since its cheaper than booking a private room for a few hours.

Since the lounge was empty, I took the chance to snap some photos.

Every pair of seats have at least 2 AC sockets to charge up your electronic devices.

Free WiFi is available, get the password from the counter. The speed is fast so you should be able to do some downloading and uploading and even watch Youtube without interruption.

Fancy a drink? Pick one up at the bar. At that time it was closed so no alcohol for me.

What's at the food counter?

No warm food, only snacks such as these.

Orange Juice was available at that time.

Fancy some soft drinks or cold sandwiches?

Soup was not available, only the bread and toaster.

Cup noodles!

Little snacks and tea for you?

The bar was closed at that time, I could have gotten myself some nice whiskey to enjoy that moment.

Just before I left, I got myself a cup of cappuccino to get my 'engine' running smoothly.

Fruits? The pictures of those hot meals were making me hungry!

I got myself some biscuits, sandwiches and coke while doing some work on my laptop.

Interior of the lounge

There were a couple of passengers besides myself in the lounge.

You won't want to sit near the TV area if you don't want eyes to be looking at your direction!

It was time to check out the toilet. You have to ask the staff to open the toilet for you. Since it was my first time using an airport's lounge for shower, I had no idea about the procedure until I notified the lady and she opened the door for me. I had a look at the other toilets, they were used and not cleaned for unknown reasons.

The room space is big enough for my luggage and bag pack to be inside.

Taking a shower was certainly welcoming!

Feeling thirsty? Feel free to take one!

Located near the entrance of the lounge, once you are inside, turn left and you will see this passage way.

I decided to change seat, this is the view from my location.

It took a while for the staff to come and clear the plates.

Service:

As some of you know that I am very particular with service, I am always observing the people around me. From the start to the end, I was pretty disappointed with this staff. The staff wasn't very friendly to me for whatever reasons and didn't make me feel comfortable. Maybe its because of my dressing? Who cares anyway, its past midnight, I don't want to be wearing formal business wear just to use the lounge. The lounge staff didn't clear the toilet or the plates immediately, it took a while before they do so, its pretty bad compared to the ones I been to so far.

My rating:

Lounge ambience:7/10

Service: 5/10

Selection of food: 6/10 (Considering the time)

Seat comfort: 7/10

Shower room: 7/10

Overall rating: 32/50

Conclusion

This lounge is pretty useful for passengers with long transit and for those without airline's status or flying on Economy Class, just cough up some money and you get to enjoy it at a timing. It has what you need to prepare yourself either for your next flight or waiting for the first bus or train to town. For a decent hotel + transport, this option (layover at night) may be cheaper and more sleeping time if you are here for less than 12 hours. Service at this lounge is not outstanding, also mentioned by other reviewers. Bear with it, make use of what they have over there and the money will be well spent! Thank you for reading my review.For my trip report with Scoot's HKG-SIN report.CheersCharles Ryan Teo